The Humans
by jewelsbyers
Summary: A series of one-shots from Riley's POV of the nights he found the humans he brought to Victoria to be changed. T for some violence, drug references and bad language.
1. Diego

_A/N: In these stories, Riley has been watching his targets for some days before actually going up and speaking to them, which is how he knows, for example, that Diego shot a member of the gang. Read, enjoy and please review._

**Diego**

I had to give him this, the kid had spirit. After fatally shooting one member of a very, very nasty looking gang and then throwing the gun down a garbage chute, he didn't even look scared that the other members of the gang had him cornered, guns drawn.

He looked to be Mexican in origin, with coffee coloured skin and a shock of black, curly hair. He was muscular, but not like the hulking human beings who were advancing on him. Despite the cool night, he wore a t-shirt with his jeans, no jacket in sight. Of course, he would be beyond feeling the cold by now. He was drenched with sweat from all the running he'd been doing tonight to try and get away from the gang and I could smell the adrenaline in his blood from here.

He was the perfect target.

When he disappeared, everyone would assume he'd been shot. The only problem would be the five members of the gang who had him cornered. I couldn't wait for them to shoot him and _then _take him to Victoria. I would have to intervene before that and that would mean revealing some elements of my supernatural nature. Of course, I could kill them, but I was still very young and, if I spilt any of their blood, it might be enough to set me drinking. That would mean that the ones who I hadn't killed got away, along with the boy I wanted to take to Victoria.

There was nothing for it, I would have to rescue the boy and go after the gang members while he was transforming. Or, perhaps not.

I looked at the boy, who was panting but standing straight and proud, a light shining in his eyes. I'd have to take him hunting when he was lucid and, despite the fact that he wouldn't care where the blood came from, it would be fun to set him on these pathetic humans once he was an invincible immortal. I smiled to myself. That hadn't been difficult.

One of the gang members cocked his gun and pointed it at the boy's chest. Time to act.

I jumped, sailing over the heads of the gang members without them noticing to land inbetween them and the boy.

They all started.

"What the fuck?" one of the gang members yelled in surprise.

"Piss off!" another one ordered roughly.

I smiled at the boy in a friendly way. He was watching me with an expression that was half shock, half relief. But it was a guarded relief; this could be a ploy on the gang's part for all he knew.

"Hey, kid," I said to him.

Behind me I heard the retort of a gun and the sound of the metal bullet _ping_-ing off my skin. I ignored it. The humans couldn't hurt me and, besides, they would be getting their comeuppance in a few days time. No sense killing them yet.

"What the...?" one of the gang members behind me stuttered fearfully. I heard their heart rates spike and some started to back away. Another one of them shot at me. Damn them! If this kept up, I would need a new jacket.

"Want a new life?" I asked the boy in front of me.

It didn't take him long to weigh his options. He took one look at the gang, who didn't look quite so fearsome now, and then glanced at me before nodding.

"Sure," he said. He sounded a little wary but, given the other option before him, I wasn't surprised he chose me.

I grabbed his upper arm in a vice like grip and jumped, pulling him with me, over the steadily retreating gang. It appeared that our sudden disappearance did it for the more cowardly members of the group. Two of them scattered into the night and a third looked nervously at other man for direction. The man who appeared to be in charge looked around once, licked his lips nervously and said, "Come on, let's go!"

They all vanished into the dark.

The kid with me looked stunned and then, without warning, he burst out laughing.

"That was awesome, man!" he said. "Did you see those cowards?"

I laughed along with him, but pulled him along in the direction of the car I had parked down the street. After a few moments, he collected himself enough to realise that he was being dragged.

"Ow," he said, looking pointedly at my hand. "Let go, man, you're hurting me."

I doubted he would run away and, besides, I needed him to trust me.

I let go of him and gave him another friendly smile.

"I'm Riley," I told him, offering him my hand.

"Diego," he said in return, shaking it. He winced slightly at my cold grip, but otherwise said nothing. I hoped - perhaps foolishly - that he hadn't seen the bullets bounce off me. But, if he had, it probably didn't matter. He would be one of my kind soon.

"So, Riley," he said casually. "Did those bastards just have really bad aim, or are you wearing a bullet proof vest?"

Damn! He had seen! Never mind, it didn't matter.

I ignored the question and asked one of my own.

"Still interested in a new life, Diego?"

He shrugged. "Sure, I guess so. Just as long as you're not getting me mixed up in any gang war, I'm not interested in that shit."

I laughed too softly for him to hear before saying, "No gang war, I promise. Just a new life, something you've never dreamed of."

We had reached my car by this point and I gestured for him to climb into the passenger seat. He did as he was told. I climbed into the driver's side and started the car before driving off in the direction of the house Victoria was occupying.

When we got there, Diego hesitated. 

"Who lives here?" he asked me, looking at the dark windows of the house.

I ignored him, the time for playing nice was over. I was out of the car and at the passenger side door before he'd finished his question. I pulled the door open, grabbed him by the upper arm again and yanked him out of the car. He resisted.

"What the hell, man?" he demanded, struggling against my hold. "Get off! You're hurting me! I said get off!"

I yanked the door of the house open and searched the room for Victoria. I pulled Diego in behind me and shut the door. As I did so, he swung a punch at the back of my head. I heard a crack and he gave a howl of pain. He'd probably broken his knuckles.

"Riley," Victoria's sugary voice called out of the darkness. "What's this you've brought me?"

"A guard," I told her, smiling at her. She was sitting in a lounge chair in front of an empty fireplace, twirling a lock of her flame red hair idly around her finger. Her eyes were a deep burgundy, she'd fed recently. Good, that meant she was less likely to kill Diego when she bit him.

"Give him to me," she ordered, standing up from her chair. I half flung Diego across the room to her. She caught him and observed him critically for a moment. I felt a hot wave a jealously surge in my stomach.

"Very good," she commended me. "I like this one already."

"What the hell is this?" Diego demanded, squirming in Victoria's grip. "What do you want from me?"

"Always the same questions," Victoria said. There was a note in her voice I didn't understand. Almost like a wistful longing. Did she wish she didn't have to do this?

She grabbed a fistful of Diego's hair and dragged his head back, exposing his throat to her teeth.

"Just relax," she hissed sadistically in his ear before she sank her teeth into his flesh.

I looked away, not wanting to relive the memories of my own transformation, Diego started screaming.


	2. Fred

_A/N: Please read, enjoy and please review._

**Fred**

I was hesitant about this one because he was older, physically, than any of the others. I didn't think it would have any effect on the first few weeks but, after that, it might speed up his civilization process. Of course, Victoria wanted the newborns to be civilized, but if they got too smart too soon, they'd start questioning my authority and wondering about Victoria.

The other newborns back at the house, Diego and three others whose names I couldn't remember, were all around the seventeen to eighteen age mark. This guy who was sitting outside his tent, closely examining something in his hand, looked to be around twenty. A college student rather than a high school kid.

I felt a stab of longing and jealously as I watched the college student examining his find. I remembered my days in college, messing around with my friends and playing soccer. I recalled that fateful night that I'd stayed late, kicking a ball around with my friends, and walked home in the dark. I remembered being hit out of nowhere by something with the force of a wrecking ball and falling flat on my back. I remembered the crushing, cold weight on my body, pinning me down and the fiery kiss. I stopped my memory in its tracks before I could go any further. I didn't want to remember the burning. My human memories might be murky, but the burning I remembered with vampire recall.

I shook my head and refocused on my task.

The young man - I could hardly refer to him as a boy when he was older than me, in one way at least - would be the fourth newborn for the guard. He was tall and broad shouldered, good looking for a human, but he looked like the kind of person who the muscular structure was wasted on. He looked like he'd be much more at home studying in a library than playing sport. He certainly wouldn't have been the kind of guy I would have associated with had he attended college with me.

Again, I was getting distracted. What was wrong with me today?

I analysed the situation one last time. He was alone, his disappearance would be easily explained away as drowning, some kind of animal attack, maybe even running away. I checked the light, making sure it was low enough that, when he was told the lie about the sun, he wouldn't think back to his transformation and wonder how I'd been able to come out during the day.

When it was dark enough that the human was packing away whatever it was he'd been examining and was getting ready to crawl into the tent. I made my move.

"Hey," I greeted him, stepping out of the shrubbery I'd been hiding in for the past while.

He gave a start of surprise, whirling around to face me. He dropped the bag full of whatever-it-was at his feet. He bent down quickly and picked it up before backing away from me. His eyes weren't exactly fearful, but they certainly weren't calm either.

I smiled in a friendly way, the same away I'd smiled at Diego and the other newborns. I was doing it a lot lately.

The guy nodded at me. "Good evening."

"Interested in a bit of excitement?" I asked him. 

His gaze turned analytical before he gave me a polite shake of his head.

"No, thank-you," he said. He turned his back on me and moved towards the tent.

For a moment I was stunned. That was the first time I'd ever been refused! Ever! Well, I wasn't having it.

I came up behind him before he had time to react and grabbed him, putting one hand across his mouth and wrapping my other arm around his waist to drag him away. He panicked and struggled, but it was utterly useless. As I was dragging him along, I had an idea.

"I didn't want to have to do it this way," I told him.

I released his waist and, at the same moment, knocked him on the head. It wasn't hard enough to kill him, I hoped, but just hard enough to knock him out for an hour or so. He went limp in my grasp. I slung him over my shoulder and carried him down to the empty parking lot where I'd left my car. I threw him none too ceremoniously into the back seat before getting into the driver's seat and getting the hell out of there.

Even driving at my speed, it took just over an hour to get back to Seattle. He was starting to stir by the time I pulled up in front of the house Victoria had claimed for herself. I got out and went around to the back seat to drag him out of the car. He tried to struggle, but he was still groggy from the blow to the head. Not that it would have done him any good anyway.

"What do you want?" he asked as I dragged him up the front steps and through the front door. "I've got nothing!"

"We'll see," I told him.

Victoria was in the kitchen this time, the dead bodies of the two humans I'd brought to her earlier lying on the floor at her feet. She hadn't been able to stop. She looked up when she heard me.

"Do you think you'll be alright with this one?" I asked her.

"Why do you care?" she asked in a sulky way.

"I don't," I assured her, keeping a firm grip on the struggling human. "I just thought that maybe you needed to hunt -"

"I don't need _you_ to tell me when I should hunt, Riley!" she snapped.

I was taken aback by her aggression.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I just don't like the thought of you burning."

Her expression softened. "That's very sweet, Riley. I'm sorry I snapped at you, it annoys me when I can't stop."

She turned her eyes to the young man in my grasp.

"This one looks promising," she said, moving towards us. When she was close enough to touch the human, she grabbed his jaw and tipped his head back.

"Hold him still for me, would you, Riley?" she cooed.

I changed my grip on him, holding his arms behind his back to minimise his struggles.

"If you have a place you like to go," Victoria crooned to him, "I suggest you go there. This will hurt."

As soon as she bit him, I dropped him and left. I didn't like to watch them writhe and scream the way she did.

_A/N: I love reviews, they make my creative juices flow even faster._


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